One Day Might Be Today
by RealmOfPossibility
Summary: One-shot: Post 3x15 - Tinkerbell discovers that Regina's past may have finally caught up with her... Pre-Outlaw Queen


**A/N A little collection of scenes that I wrote after seeing Outlaw Queen in 3x15 and some pictures for 3x16 showing Tinkerbell's back (yay). It's quite speculative-who knows how 3x16 will play out?**

**Spoilers of course-3x03, 3x15 and I've used a couple of lines from 3x03**

The bell on the door of Granny's Diner rang shrilly.

It was a sombre crowd gathered in the diner. Small groups huddled together, talking in hushed tones. Sympathetic hands were placed on arms, on knees and around shoulders. Despite the plates of food Granny was cooking up, no one felt like eating.

Death and loss hung heavy in the air.

Tinkerbell quietly approached the bar and ordered a drink from Granny. She turned, leaning back against the bar and surveyed the room.

What a contrast to the last time they had all gathered here together.

Last time, it had been a joyous celebration, to toast Henry's safe return and to raise a glass to the heroes of the occasion. A room of bright, beaming faces and a chorus of 'Cheers!' to almost every person who had had a hand in bringing the boy back (and as the alcohol had freely flowed, to those who had had nothing to do with it.)

But, now?

It was a sea of shell-shocked, stricken faces. Of expressions contorted with sorrow.

Baelfire, the son of Rumplestiltskin, was lost to them forever.

Tinkerbell saw them all. Belle sat alone, her face drawn and haggard from little sleep. Snow and David sat at a table with Emma and Henry, the Saviour herself stirring a cup of something listlessly. Blue was there, quietly surveying all and the dwarves hovered in their ever-decreasing numbers. Tinkerbell had heard the news of people being turned into flying monkeys…

She suddenly frowned.

There was one conspicuous absence. One key player missing. Though hardly a friend to the deceased, Tinkerbell had imagined Regina would come if only to support Henry, even from afar.

But, the former queen was nowhere to be seen.

"Your drink."

Tinkerbell spun back to face Granny as a glass was pushed towards her.

"Thanks." She leaned forward slightly. "Is Regina here?"

Granny stopped for a moment, brow furrowed, before she made a quick scan of the room. Finally, she shrugged.

"Guess not. I saw her at the funeral, but not since then."

Tinkerbell slid some money over the counter and downed the drink, face scrunching at the burn in her throat. Alcohol certainly was more potent here than any other place she'd ever been.

"Hey Tink."

She turned and found Snow standing next to her. She smiled briefly at the heavily-pregnant woman.

"Hi. How's Emma?"

Snow shrugged as she shook her head.

"About as well as you'd expect. Staying strong for Henry."

Tinkerbell nodded.

"It must be hard without Henry's memories."

Snow's mouth wavered in a smile that seemed much more like a wince.

"Snow, have you seen Regina? I noticed she's not here and I thought she'd at least make the effort for Henry."

As Granny had done, Snow glanced around the room, noting the absence.

"Oh. I haven't seen her since the funeral. But, now that I think about it, she's been kind of quiet the last couple of days." One corner of her mouth turned up slightly. "You know Regina. She's never backward in being forward. But, I haven't really seen her around. I think she's been looking for traces of the Wicked Witch."

Tinkerbell nodded thoughtfully as Snow returned to her family. She had good instincts. Despite others trying to tell her otherwise, it was part of the reason she was a good fairy, a damn good one and right now, all kinds of alarm bells were ringing.

Regina by herself had never proven to be a good thing for anyone, particularly the woman herself.

She walked purposefully to the door and exited the diner. Best to trust her instincts and allay her fears now. Perhaps it was nothing.

Perhaps.

* * *

Tinkerbell found her eventually. Despite the fact that Storybrooke was a small town, it still took a considerable amount of time to walk its streets. And it didn't feel right to fly around as if she hadn't a care in the world.

She wouldn't have picked the queen as a seaside person. Yet, here she was, sitting on a bench near the dock, salty wind blowing her raven hair back, scarf flapping behind her, knees pressed together with her hands clasped on them. From the side, Regina's face appeared as impassive as ever, but Tinkerbell had long ago learned of things that lurked beneath the surface.

"Regina," she said, alerting the woman to her presence.

The woman's dark eyes flicked momentarily towards her, but she didn't turn her head. Instead, she reached beside her and lifted a glass with an amber liquid inside. After swirling it for a moment, she took a sip.

Tinkerbell frowned and moved to the bench, easing onto the end of it. She didn't know what was going on, but sensed proximity was out of the question at this moment.

Her eyebrows shot up as Regina held out the glass to her.

"What is that?" she asked.

Regina finally turned her head to meet Tinkerbell's gaze.

"Whisky," she replied in a gravelly voice.

Tinkerbell declined the offer with a wave of her hand.

"You know there's plenty of people at Granny's you could be having a drink with right now. I noticed you weren't there."

Regina's eyes regarded her, before drifting back to the grey sea.

"I thought you might come along for Henry's sake," Tinkerbell tried again, attempting to draw something out of the stoic woman. "I know you and Baelfire weren't exactly…"

"Henry's the only reason I even went to the funeral," Regina interjected, setting the glass down. "And now, I'm having a drink alone. Feel free to go back to the others."

It was a dismissal in any sense of the word, but Tinkerbell had heard far worse from the woman beside her.

_Fly away moth._

"Are you alright? You seem…"

"I'm fine."

It was the tone, more than anything, that got Tinkerbell's attention. Not an actual answer, simply a throw-away line snapped out to thwart any further attempts at civility. Yes, Tinkerbell had heard much much worse.

"Is it Henry?"

It was the obvious question. Trapped in a town where her son no longer knew who she was had to be causing the woman unimaginable heartache.

_With Henry, I finally got something right._

Still, Regina remained silent, but Tinkerbell could see her jaw clenching and unclenching. Just a little extra push might cause the dam to burst. Or render herself yet again a casualty of the queen.

"He will get his memories back, Regina," she said soothingly. "Just give it some time."

Regina briefly closed her eyes. As she opened them, Tinkerbell noticed the dark shadows under them. The queen had not been sleeping…

"He's here."

Tinkerbell frowned and tilted her head slightly in confusion.

"Yes. I guess that's enough for the…"

Regina shook her head almost violently.

"Not Henry."

Tinkerbell studied the other woman closely.

"Help me out, Regina. I don't…"

"The man…the man with the tattoo," Regina finally uttered, as if the words physically pained her.

Tinkerbell blinked and took a deep breath. She felt herself sink against the back of the bench and let out all of the air in her lungs in a long blow. Of all the things she thought might be troubling this woman, she had not expected _that_.

"Oh." She knew it was an insipid response, but words were actually failing her right now. A thirty-year-old ghost suddenly coming back to haunt them was not something she had been expecting in this land.

"Quite," Regina said, taking another generous sip of whisky.

"Who is he?" Tinkerbell asked cautiously, suddenly beginning to regret coming to find the queen. The lessons of decades ago had been hard-learned, the journey back brutal. Helping Regina so long ago had turned into an unmitigated disaster, thrown her life into turmoil, lost her her magic, her wings. She now had a tenuous grip on a new life, a new beginning. Regina was even evolving into something of a friend. Tinkerbell hoped against hope she wasn't about to watch it all burn to the ground again.

"Robin of Locksley," Regina said, enunciating each word, as if for emphasis. "Also known as the thief, Robin Hood." Her lips curled back in a smile that contained not even the slightest trace of humour.

"You've met him?" Tinkerbell questioned, treading carefully with each and every word she spoke.

Regina stared into her now-empty glass.

"I have. And seen his family."

Tinkerbell felt a heavy knot begin to grow in her chest. Oh.

Oh.

_Why couldn't you just go through that door and meet your soulmate?_

She thought back to their confrontation in the cave and Regina's astoundingly raw confession of cowardice. Of fear. Barely weeks ago, Tinkerbell might have simply sneered and snapped out a taunting 'I told you so' in her face. Might even have reiterated her opinion about Regina's selfishness.

But, as she stared at Regina's glassy eyes and unusually slumped shoulders, Tinkerbell had no such urge. In fact, she felt unexpected tears spring to her own eyes. The woman had already lost everything that mattered. This was simply one more nail in the coffin.

And Tinkerbell was at a loss. Regina didn't want words right now. She had no use for platitudes or clichés or inane expressions of hope. She was simply here drowning her broken heart in…

Tinkerbell reached down to the bottle she spotted sitting by Regina's feet. She picked it up, and the glass, and poured a little whisky into the glass. She threw it back quickly and swallowed thickly, before pouring another. This one, she handed to Regina, who took it with a raised eyebrow.

"I have nothing to offer you," Tinkerbell said quietly. "But, a listening ear if you need it. And a drinking partner should you desire it." She swallowed nervously, before plunging ahead. "What I _won't_ offer you is some line about how it's all going to be fine. But, I will tell you that one day you will smile again, Regina. And you might even mean it."

She stood, watching the queen for a moment. As Regina looked up to meet her gaze, Tinkerbell saw the hurt deep within.

Hurt from decades ago made fresh by a chance encounter.

It was a look that burned into her brain as she walked back to the diner.

* * *

It was so completely inappropriate. It was neither the time nor the place for such an endeavour.

But, Tinkerbell found she couldn't help it. She needed to meet him.

This…Robin of Locksley. The man her pixie dust had found all those years ago. The person who was supposed to help Regina find happiness.

Again, her eyes took in the crowd inside the diner. There were a few people she recognised, but many she had never seen before. She would need to ask.

She approached David as he stood at the counter, talking to Hook. They both turned toward her as she approached.

"Tink," Hook acknowledged in his usual droll tone. She nodded, before focusing on David.

"Can I have a word?"

Hook raised his hands in mock resignation, moving on to a group by the window. David looked at her with curiosity.

"What is it, Tinkerbell?" he asked.

"I was wondering if you might point me in the direction of a man called Robin?"

She held her breath as David's eyes roved somewhere behind her. He nodded slightly, jutting his chin in the direction of someone he had spotted.

"Over there. Table by the door, wearing the brown jacket. The boy is his son."

_And seen his family._

She forced a smile.

"Thanks." Without another word, she turned on her heel and walked toward the door, ignoring David's questioning look.

His hair was light brown, she noted as she approached, and his shoulders were broad. His jaw was unshaven, his hands strong.

The boy's hair was dark and curly. Perhaps he took after his mother.

Tinkerbell stood at the end of the table and the man, Robin, looked up, his mouth curving up into a friendly smile, still tinged with the sadness of the occasion.

"Hello," he said.

Add to that kind eyes and a handsome face.

"Hello," she replied, looking from Robin to the boy beside him. "I noticed you here and realised we haven't met. My name is Tinkerbell."

Robin nodded and placed a hand on his chest.

"Robin of Locksley. And this one…" He placed a hand on the boy's head and mussed his hair. "This is my son, Roland." The boy grinned shyly and she found herself smiling back. "Did you know Baelfire well?" he continued.

"We met long ago," Tinkerbell replied, her smile fading. "And then again quite recently."

Robin gestured to the empty side of the table.

"Then, would you like to join us? Perhaps we might share a drink and a story or two of our mutual friend."

No. She'd seen enough.

"Oh. That's alright. I don't want to take someone else's seat."

Robin waved off her refusal.

"You're not. It's just us boys, right Roland?"

She stood there, at the end of the table, his words struggling to penetrate into her mind.

_It's just us boys…_

A new knot began forming in her chest. And a tingling sensation over her skin. Something inside her began screaming. Her instincts again…

"You're not waiting for a…Mrs Locksley?" she asked, sure that her lungs were about to become devoid of all oxygen and her legs robbed of all strength.

Robin's face turned slightly puzzled. And…something else. Pain?

"Ah. No. My wife is no longer with us. For a few years now."

Yes, it was an afternoon of complete inappropriateness on her part. How she wanted to bite her lip from…no she didn't want to smile. That's not what this was.

Didn't want to smile at another man's grief. Didn't want to clench her fists in something like relief or wonderment at how life threw such bizarre twists and turns. Didn't want to run out the door and sprint back to the bench where a former Evil Queen sat, watching her chance at happiness once again slip through her fingers.

_One day you'll smile again, Regina._

Tinkerbell reached down and pulled back one of the empty chairs, settling herself into it.

The day might come sooner than any of them would have thought.


End file.
